Flinders Ranges, S.A.

We had a very busy four days while based at Hawker, SA. Predominately travelling in, around and over Wilpena Pound and the awesome Flinders Ranges. We have many photographs, maybe we will let them describe our fascinating tour of the area. I took a total of 99 photographs but have selected 28 for this blog post. During our four days at The Flinders Ranges we experienced huge variations in the light conditions. Virtually none of the time was conducive to decent photography but we had to make do with what we had. We will need to return to the area for another tour at a different season of the year. We are now familiar with the area and knowledgable about where to travel on any subsequent visit.

The small, historic mining town of Blinman is about 50 km north of Wilpena and well worth a visit. The North Blinman Hotel is one of the few businesses still operating in the town.

We had a locally baked Quandong Pie (tastes a little like rhubarb) and coffee at the Blinman General Store. Note the corrugated roofing iron statues featuring a kangaroo and an emu guarding the Store Entry. Not to mention the Wedge Tail perched on the verandah.

This Cafe also operates in Blinman.

The Blinman Memorial Hall and the town museum are about the only other buildings of note.

It appears if this old Miners Shack is still lived in today.

The Flinders Ranges just south of Wilpena.

The southern escarpment on the outside of Wilpena Pound.

Beginning at Wilpena Pound Resort we took one of the shorter walks. This track leads to "Hills Homestead" and "Wangara Look Out". About 2.5 hours return.

The path took us past this shady water hole.

Hills Homestead.

The view of Wilpena Pound from the Look Out.

One of the aerial shots of Wilpena Pound.

The lighting was constantly changing on our late afternoon flight over The Pound.

The walls of The Pound are awesomely rugged.

Back on Terra Firma walking into Sacred Gorge. All the Gorges shown on this blog posting are actually dry river courses and of course would be impassable following heavy rain.

Minor scaling required to avoid water holes in Sacred Gorge.

Higher and Deeper into Sacred Gorge.

This cave is situated beside a large pool at the top of Sacred Gorge.

The entrance into Bunyeroo Gorge. This Gorge is much wider than Sacred Gorge, so much so that vehicular traffic can pass through.

The geology of the gorges is remarkable and they all date from different eras.

The different strata of the rocks is clearly visible.

After exiting Bunyeroo Gorge we passed over some high country en route to Brachina Gorge.

Brachina Gorge is much wider than Bunyeroo Gorge and the rock is from a different era, something like 20 to 30 million years difference. Not much difference really when the oldest rocks go back 550 to 560 million years.

Two distinctly different rock types in this area of Brachina Gorge.

Another different rock face in Brachina Gorge.

The exit from Brachina Gorge, note the width of the dry Brachina Creek bed.

We were fortunate to see two Yellow Foot Wallabys on the way out of Brachina Gorge.

The western escarpment of The Flinders Ranges from the Leigh Creek Road while returning to Hawker.